Hair Department Head Andrea “Mona” Bowman and Makeup Department Head Para Malden had the unusual experience of working with an entire family on Netflix’s The Piano Lesson. It has long been Denzel Washington’s goal to bring all of August Wilson’s plays to film. Previously, Washington produced, directed, and starred in Wilson’s Fences. He then produced Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, starring Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis. For The Piano Lesson, the patriarch brought in his whole immediate family. His son Malcolm adapted the play and directed the film, and his other son John David co-stars. His wife Pauletta and daughter Olivia have cameos in the film, and finally, his other daughter Katia served as Executive Producer. Just writing that paragraph has me humming Sly & the Family Stone’s “Family Affair.”
While being surrounded by Washingtons might seem intimidating to an outsider, Mona and Para found the collaboration with the family to be supportive, inclusive of their ideas, and trustful in their respective abilities.
Considering The Piano Lesson primarily takes place in rural Pittsburgh in 1936, the challenges Mona and Para faced were obviously period-based. However, as you will see in our discussion below, there were many levels to consider within the period itself.
The Contending: The Academy and the industry have started to consider hair and makeup to be connected as if they were almost one department. But there are obviously separate aspects to what you’re doing with hair and makeup. How did the two of you navigate your work together?
Para Malden – Makeup: When it came to The Piano Lesson, I was and will be forever grateful to Mona for recommending me for the job. Mona and I have had experience working with each other in close proximity over the years, and our chemistry has always been excellent. Yes, we are two separate departments, but we’re two departments that work together to create a character. We communicate with one another about what we plan on doing for a specific scene or look so that the character can be cohesive. The communication, chemistry, and energy within the trailer, if we have a trailer that’s together, has always been great. We both like the same energy for the actors because all of that plays a part in the vibe of the day. It helps aid us in producing great work.
Andrea ‘Mona’ Bowman – Hair: I’ve been in trailers where people did not have the same objective. It is so good to have people you work with to make sure you bring these characters to life. We’re with each other 12 to 19 hours a day, so making sure you bring your best self daily and understand that you’re in a professional environment is important. This is a job that is very inclusive and one can’t really operate without the other. Having that type of understanding and respect for each other made it really easy. As a person, I have major respect for Para, but as an artist, I have major respect for her as well with her craft. Having somebody who wants the same objective as you is always easy and great. It just flows.
The Contending: Mona, you had previously worked on Fences. You came into this with an idea of what Denzel was aiming for because he’s been highly involved in each of the three films (Fences, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson) based on August Wilson’s work. In this film, in particular, both of you were surrounded by Washingtons: executive producer, director, and on-camera talent. What was the sense of responsibility, being surrounded by all that much family? (Laughs).
Andrea ‘Mona’ Bowman – Hair: My first big film with Denzel was The Great Debaters. That’s how I ended up being a part of Fences and how I ended up with The Piano Lesson. This industry is very relational. I started out fourth in the trailer doing The Great Debaters. But on this one, I had the opportunity to lead the design and the department of hair. That family is such a hard-working, everyday, genuine, real family that has nothing but the utmost respect for professionalism. You’re going to get the same respect whether you are kin or not. Everybody knew their role to play, and the respect for the craft is so important. I got that same vibe when we did Fences as well. I was the third on that one. Around them, nothing has changed. It’s all about professionalism and getting the work done and not just getting it done, but making sure that it looks and feels right.
Having Denzel there so much up until he left to go do Gladiator 2, it was such a great feeling to see him as an EP, but also have his sons back and his daughters back. Even Ms. Pauletta (Denzel’s wife) has a cameo. Katia was an EP, and his other daughter, Olivia, had a cameo. To see him navigate, watching his sons, giving them certain little pointers, but sitting back, was just the utmost respect. That family is the truth. The sense of grounding from Pauletta and hearing John David tell us about how they would go to North Carolina when they were young and how their dad structured things. They’re the truth.
The Contending: And for you, Para, how was your experience?
Para Malden – Makeup: The first Washington I got to meet was Malcolm, when I interviewed for the position. And, of course, with any interview, there are nerves there, but as soon as stepping in and sitting down and talking with Malcolm, we had a lot of the same goals in mind when it came to the project of what we both envisioned–how the characters would look. Just talking with him, he made you feel comfortable in expressing your vision, and it never came off as intimidating or anything like that from Malcolm. He wants to hear your point of view. He wants to hear your thoughts and he takes them into consideration. It’s always an open forum. Even with (Executive Producer) Katia, Katia said if there’s ever a time you need anything if you need me to relay a message because I know Malcolm can be busy, contact me, call me, text me, email me. She was always like reach out to me, and I’ll make sure he makes time to discuss whatever needs to be discussed. I appreciated that from both of them.
And as Mona said, the support of Pauletta, outside of her cameo, she was there like the onset mom for all of us. It was a pleasure having her with us on set; she would bring us cake sometimes. That’s what I mean by onset mom, that nurturing from her and the support from her aided in the morale of the entire project. To also sit back and watch Denzel, like Mona said, he really gave his kids an opportunity to lead the way in this project. He trusted them. But you can tell this project wasn’t anything that was given to them. They were all ready for it. They all knew what they were doing. You can tell that they’re all grounded and have that foundation from their parents, and their parents were confident they could pull this off. You can see that. I feel like in such a short amount of time, so many of us were able to connect. When we see one another when we’re going to these screenings it’s all love and respect. I’m grateful to have been a part of that experience.
The Contending: Speaking of August Wilson, that is a different layer of responsibility, I think, for anybody who works on a film based upon one of his plays. His work is so seminal to not just the black experience but the American experience. Pittsburgh isn’t exactly Midwest, but it’s not quite East Coast, either. I’m from the Midwest, so I recognize Pittsburgh as feeling like a Midwestern town. How much did that play into your work? Working in rural Pittsburgh and in period too–post-depression, what steps did you take to prepare to make things look right?
Andrea ‘Mona’ Bowman – Hair: The character development is so vital. Once we got the script, the writing, and the detail gave us the lay of the land. We knew it was Pittsburgh. We understood it was 1936. Understanding that Willie Boy (John David Washington) is coming from down south plays another part in the look. Erykah Badu, as Lucille, being a traveler she will be a woman who has been exposed to many things because she has wandered in the world. All those key little elements of what they do and who they are in the script, that’s what starts the churning. When you see (white land owner) Sutter in 1911, going back and making sure that he looks right for the period, you could see that when you’re watching the fireworks. For the women, I went with the Gibson.
That Gibson look was one of the traditional looks of that time. It just made us dig deep because of the detail in the script, and when you have a script that actually lays that down, and then you have a director that wants that because he helped write it, to be able to have him there and to give us those nuggets of what he wants, the time period, where they were from, gave me the basis of what I needed to do in my research as far as picking the different types of styles. Then, the other heartbeat, which is costumes, the part where they were talking to the slaves; even with that, you couldn’t come with a traditional big head wrap. We had to make sure that it was a wrap that showed their occupation and their standing as far as what their position in life was. When I’m designing, I make sure when I’m reading a script, I break it down to those little anecdotes. Older Willie Boy (Stephen James) was a farmer. So we made sure that he didn’t look over-groomed when he was with the young Willie Boy. Those are the things, as a hair designer, I have to make sure that I get those little nuggets to make sure that I’m getting it period correct.
The Contending: Para, how does makeup apply for you in terms of supporting a period look?
Para Malden – Makeup: When it comes to the character development with makeup, and especially when it comes to period pieces–whenever I do a period piece, my preference is I would like for the audience to look at the screen and feel like they’re in 1936 or the 1900s and not a replica of 2024. I want people to think they’re looking at individuals from that time. That research has to take place because we weren’t here in those times. When I interviewed with Malcolm, he had a book of the photographs of Charles Teenie Harris called One Shot by Stanley Crouch. That book is based on a photographer from Pittsburgh who actually took photographs of people from that specific time period. To make sure we were making people look authentic, we had photos from people who were living in that time frame from that area. We used that as a premise and a basis for helping to formulate our looks for Pittsburgh and did more research for those coming from Mississippi during that time when they traveled up to visit and also for the characters from the 1900s.
Like Mona said, you have to think of what each person’s occupation is. If the character is a farmer, his nails would not be well-groomed. He would probably have some dirt that is stained within the nail bed. Those small details help tell a story of a person. A farmer or a field worker’s facial hair may not be well-groomed. There were times we actually added facial hair to characters to make them look like the characters they needed to be. And even down to the women, as far as eyebrow shape and how the lipstick would be applied. There are people that probably thought that these women had on absolutely no makeup in some of the scenes, but they have a full face of makeup on, but there’s a way of applying it to make it look like they don’t have any makeup. Even a little bit of highlighting contouring may still be done, but it’s blended and not overdone, to where it looks like their skin and their face naturally that looks that way. Even down to the nail shape of a woman, in specific time periods, they wore their nails a certain length and a certain shape. When it came to the women in the 1915 scene, we made sure they didn’t look warm. Their skin was more pale looking, and they may have had a flush of pink on their cheeks and a little bit of tint on their lips because for the fireworks scene, that’s how they wore their makeup then. It’s all about doing research and getting certain books and searching online for what you can get that’s authentic and not just what people might think it was back then. Those references all play a part in the telling of the story. There’s a scene where Willie Boy goes onto the train with hobos aboard. We stained their teeth. These men didn’t have dental care. They’re not upkeeping. We made them look dirty by adding makeup on their body and on their teeth because they wouldn’t be brushing; they didn’t have anything to brush with. All those details matter to sell and tell a story.
Andrea ‘Mona’ Bowman – Hair: I use Marcel irons and the figure eight curling technique. The other thing that they would do is the pin curling and I use the actual waves. I used pressing creams from that day. In that scene when Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler) is doing Skyler’s hair, all the details have to go into play to make sure that these characters come to life and are authentic. Yes, we did our research.
Para Malden – Makeup: It means we did a great job if people are thinking that these characters have nothing on. Lymon’s (Ray Fisher) character’s facial hair was applied to make it look like it was coming out of his skin. We wanted him to have a sparse beard to help with his character, so we applied facial hair to his face to accomplish that look, but it probably looked like we just had him roll out of the bed and come on the shoot and film. No, we still had to develop that character. For Danielle’s character, when she was in the lake with her late husband, we wanted her to look clean, pure, and satisfied. We wanted it to look like she had no makeup, but she had on a full face of makeup. I think I did my job if people think he has nothing on.
The Contending: You are dealing with characters who are mostly family. Is there anything that you did–and I’m coming from a place of heartfelt ignorance (laughs)–but did you do anything to try to make their complexions match? Or was that not necessary because historically, there’s so much mixing that came from the Slave era? They all looked like they belonged in the same room to me. When I watched the documentary, Samuel L. Jackson didn’t look like he could be John David’s uncle so much, but in the movie, he does.
Para Malden – Makeup: When it comes to complexion and especially within the African American community, no, there’s not much you have to do. There are people who pull from skin tones of different generations and lineages down. Even in my own family, my mom is more fair-skinned, my dad is chocolate, and I’m more chocolate like my dad, but not his exact complexion, and my brother is of a lighter hue but not exactly my mom’s complexion. That’s the beauty of our melanin within our families. My grandmother and grandfather are of a lighter hue, but their first child was chocolate as can be, one of my uncles, he pulled from my grandfather’s mother. Fun fact: my grandfather’s father was a slave owner’s son, but they were posing as white, but they were really black. People found out that they had a little droplet (of African American blood) in them, and they had to run from them, but they were so fair that they passed as non-black when they really were black. And his mom was of African descent. And my uncle, their first child, his complexion very well could have pulled from that, even though both of his parents were fair-skinned. So, with complexions within families, you don’t necessarily have to worry about that. It varies for sure. I feel like because we were dealing with such great actors, they can help pull off their relatability as far as believing that they’re family.
Para Malden – Makeup: Yeah. And those are different things and perspectives to consider when it comes to character development. When you ask the question, does everybody need to be the same skin tone? No, they don’t.
Andrea ‘Mona’ Bowman – Hair: Most families come in different shades.
Para Malden – Makeup: All of us don’t have the same hair texture.
Andrea ‘Mona’ Bowman – Hair: Like Para said, the type of actors that they are really made it relatable. The writing and the acting and us actually getting them into character and the set just draws you in and makes you relate to the idea that this is really family business.
The Contending: One thing both of you keep returning to is creating character. JD’s hair is like just on the edge of wild because he’s a farmer. It’s not that he doesn’t take care of his hair. He’s just a little rougher, right? Danielle’s hair is very constructed, and her character is very tightly wound. You’re obviously thinking about character all the way through You’re part of the storytelling as well.
Para Malden – Makeup: Even with telling the story within one scene, there is a scene where Danielle comes in from work. That’s when she first sees her brother, played by John David, and she says let me go upstairs, and get comfortable and come back down. She entered with red lips. Then that’s when communication comes in with all departments. Will she still have the same outfit? Is she changing? So we communicate with costumes. She’s changing into what she’s wearing around the house. To make it look believable, because she wouldn’t still have this red lip on just being around the house, now she had enough time to take her lip off, change her clothes, and now she’s coming down the steps. But then, within the same day, she goes to get ready for bed. That’s taking her makeup down another level, maybe changing her clothes and maybe adding her hair scarf for getting ready for bed. These decisions all tell a story because if she has on the same outfit, the same clothes, and the same hairstyle as when she first walked in, that would not be accurate. Those transitions and those subtle changes that we make help tell the story of where she is, what she’s doing, and what’s about to happen.
Andrea ‘Mona’ Bowman – Hair: Hair tells a story a lot in a period film. You can have on a white shirt and a pair of pants, and if you change the hair each time, you can tell just from a hairstyle which decade that hairstyle was from. It’ll give you a general look. If you do an afro, you immediately go to the 70s. You do the waves or a short little pixie; you can go to the 20s or the 30s. Understanding that a 1936 black woman in Pittsburgh from the South, having that opportunity not to be under that sharecropper’s mentality, she’s free, she’s able to really dress up and be a part. That’s part of our culture, too. We’ve always been able to make something out of nothing. So we have that, especially back then, spark and a zeal to make sure that even if we had one dress, we’re going to make sure that one dress is put together. We’re going to make sure our hair is put together. We’re going to make sure our makeup, even if we had that one little tube of lipstick, it will be that thing that we would dress up. Back then, we had church clothes and then everyday clothes and certain clothes for our job. Those things are what we put into play for Danielle, and like you said with John David’s look and with Lymon getting dressed up in the suit that he bought. We made sure that his hair was slicked back as he went into the bathroom and showed that he really put some effort in because he wanted to fit into Pittsburgh versus being looked at as the country boy from Mississippi. All those things matter because they tell the story.
